The Potomac Highlands Dispatch - the online newspaper

University of Maryland Extension Office reps encourage county to be proactive in educating public on natural gas issues

* There is an estimated 51,000 acres of Marcellus in Allegany County

* 'It wasn't a plow and it wasn't a cow, so I had to do my homework'
-- Derrick Bender, agriculture specialist

update: Jan. 21 - adds comment from Stephen R. Trujillo of Samson

By The Potomac Highlands Dispatch
CUMBERLAND, Jan. 20 -- Officials with the University of Maryland Extension Office of Allegany County met with all three county commissioners on Thursday and suggested they take a proactive approach in regards to natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale.

Jennifer Bentlejewski, area director who oversees Maryland's three westernmost counties, said the issue has been "a hot topic" in Garrett County for some time.

"We want you to know that it could become a hot topic here pretty quickly," she told commissioners Mike McKay, Creade Brodie Jr. and Bill Valentine during a public work session. "So we need to be proactive."

It's possible the issue could arise sooner rather than later. Bentlejewski said she talked with a representative of one natural gas company who said the company was ready to submit a drilling permit to the state Department of the Environment.

In December 2009, Samson Resources Co., of Oklahoma, applied to MDE for permits to drill four exploratory wells - three in Garrett County and one in Allegany County. Bentlejewski did not identify on Thursday the name of the company for which the individual she spoke with worked. On Friday, the Mikal Zimmerman, also of the extension office, confirmed Samson is the company to which Bentlejewski was referring.

The locations of those four parcels were near Avilton; north of Frostburg; Piney Grove; and, in Allegany County, National, located between Carlos and Midland.

At the time of the permit application, a Samson representative Stephen R. Trujillo said the company was prepared to address sediment control and stormwater management. Additional concerns raised by property owners in Garrett County since then include possible water contamination from the process of hydrofracking and the amount of money landowners might receive if they lease their land to a natural gas company.

That National location never panned out, Trujuillo said Friday, in part because there were issues with the property owners pre-existing sublease to a third party. Trujillo said that was between $30,000 and $40,000 worth of engineering data down the drain.

Bentlejewski and Derrick Bender, also of the extension office, said unbiased education is key for all involved. Organizations such as The Greater Cumberland Committee and the Allegany County Chamber of Commerce have sponsored public forums to encourage discussion and to promote awareness of natural gas drilling and related issues.

So far, though, Bender said it just hasn't been seen as a priority by a large number of people in Allegany County. In Garrett County, "interest took off" from the very first meeting.

From that meeting, Bender said a group of landowners united to, among other things, ensure they all received fair prices for leasing mineral rights to natural gas companies.

"That's a good thing for the landowners," Bender said. "The education aspect has taken off there."

But efforts to engage the public in Allegany County haven't shown quite the same promise as its neighbor, Bender said.

"We had nobody show interest," Bender said. "I was disappointed, to say the least."

Bentlejewski and Bender said they stand ready to help county residents learn more about the process of drilling for natural gas. Commissioner Mike McKay said the public isn't the only group of people who need to be kept informed.

"The three of us need to be educated on that as well," McKay said of himself and his fellow commissioners.

Bentlejewski stressed that their Pennsylvania counterparts - an area in which natural gas drilling has been ongoing for a few years - has been a primary source of information.

"We have experienced, especially in the last six months, how controversial this issue has become," she said, for which meetings have "certainly generated lots of interest and excitement and concern. We try to stay away from, as much as we can, industry, because, of course, they have a slight bias and the environmental groups have a slight bias."

And the power of the Internet hasn't necessarily helped people gain access to good information, she said.

"Much of what's on the web about Marcellus shale is pretty inaccurate. What they're showing geologically is inaccurate. That's where we struggle. They've already formed an opinion about what they think Marcellus shale and natural gas drilling involves when it really isn't technically correct and it's not scientifically proven."

Zimmerman said the meeting, which could take place in late February or early March, will focus on "providing education so that land owners can make informed decisions rather based on what they think or what they've heard."